£1,800 disc brake bikes ReviewsEtc
RALEIGH REVENIO 5 DISC £1,750
No lightweight, but still a good ride
SPEC FRAME 6061 butted aluminium, carbon fork, tapered alloy steerer
About the bike
Raleigh’s range-topping Revenio collection has proved hugely popular in the BikesEtc office, with the £550 Revenio 1 scoring well in last issue’s bike test and the £750 Revenio 2 impressing in the Brecon Beacons in issue four. But at a relatively wallet-busting £1,750, the Revenio 5 Disc is in a very different price range, and with disc brakes, it’s a completely different animal altogether – so does it impress? We gave it a test to find out…
GROUPSET Shimano Ultegra BRAKES Shimano hydraulic CHAINSET: FSA Gossamer 50/34t offset for 135mm CASSETTE SRAM 1130, 11-28 BARS: RSP+ alloy STEM: RSP+ alloy SADDLE Selle Royal Sirio SEATPOST RSP+ alloy WHEELS Shimano WH-RX31 TYRES Schwalbe Lugano, 25c CONTACT raleigh.co.uk
Size tested 5 Weight 9.80kg TT
GEOMETRY Claimed Measured
Head tube (HT)
Top tube (TT)
545mm 545mm
Head angle (HA) 71.75° 71.7°
Seat tube (ST)
510mm 510mm
Seat angle (SA) 73° 72°
Down tube (DT)
587mm
Fork length (FL)
380mm BB drop (BB)
94 ■ BikesEtc July 2015
Frame
HT
165mm 165mm
Wheelbase (WB)
994mm
ST
FL
DT HA
SA
70mm 70mm
BB WB
At £1,750, it’s no surprise to see the Revenio built around an aluminium frame. Carbon is still pricy and the addition of disc brakes – especially hydraulic ones – requires significant additional design and engineering that will add to the cost. Discs are not simply retrofittable to any frame. So while you could spend £1,500 on a carbon-fibre Revenio 2 with rim brakes, the £1,750 model sticks
with aluminium, a tried-and-tested material. The tubing is butted to save weight and add strength, and the welds are reassuringly robust. Raleigh makes the Revenio aluminium bikes in nine sizes, to cater for riders from 5ft to 6ft5. We chose a size 5 for our 5ft 10in tester. Thanks to the way aluminium frames are constructed, angles often differ slightly to the claimed geometry – as welds cool, they shrink, so you can’t guarantee that the tubes won’t
shift. While any side-to-side deviations would be corrected by cold forging, back-to-front changes aren’t so easy. So, seeing the seat angle on the Revenio is at 72 degrees rather than the claimed 73 isn’t a huge surprise, but that doesn’t mean it’s welcome: Raleigh says its RE2P geometry shifts your weight back on the bike, taking pressure off your arms to reduce fatigue, but we’re yet to ride a bike with this layout that truly inspires – you still July 2015 BikesEtc ■ 95